And don’t lose hope. Together, we can do this!
We Can Win With Hard Work
The GOP Knows It’s ‘Hanging On by a Thread’ in a Post-Roe World
Ilyse Hogue… believes strongly that abortion will one day be legal again “across the land” but that “our role, in the meantime, is to mitigate as much harm as possible.”
But there’s hope, Hogue insists, as long as we don’t let ourselves off the hook.
“They are on very tenuous ground. They know—and by ‘they’ I mean the GOP that supports this radical right power grab—they literally know that they are hanging on by a thread,” Hogue says. “And that thread is the idea that there is no organized resistance. That the Democrats are afraid. That they are, by brute force, going to be able to hold onto minority control. And the reason that gives me hope is because the solution is right here in our hands, right?”
What exactly is that solution, though? For Molly and everyone listening, Hogue lays it out, step by step: “If people refuse to go home. If people continue to turn out every day, vote in every election lobby, if their state Houses lobby the federal government—the majority will ultimately prevail. So that gives me hope because I see no signs of people’s anger, rage, and commitment abating. And that is our secret weapon.”
Beto is within striking distance
In Texas, as with the rest of the country, we are starting to see a pronounced shift towards team blue in the culture wars. The topline numbers would suggest a struggle in November but the internals are more suggestive of positive room to grow and pull off the upset. Clearly the days of Republican power in Texas are politically dwindling.
First of all, the topline is meh, at 49-41 Abbott. But I think a lot of this is a knee jerk response. For some time Texas independents have leaned more conservative as a whole, but the issue by issue deep dive shows an electorate more maleable and perhaps swingable.
Overturning Roe is unpopular — and viewed as largely political
Polling conducted in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade paints a consistent picture: Most Americans oppose the decision and lack confidence in the Supreme Court itself. What’s more, there is broad concern that the court’s decision to roll back the right to abortion is simply the first in a series of similar rollbacks, potentially targeting same-sex marriage and the availability of contraceptives.
Democrats are doing great things
takeaways from Joe Biden’s trip to two of the most productive foreign summits in years
President Joe Biden and his fellow NATO leaders departed a highly consequential summit Thursday that left the defense alliance larger, more muscular and more focused.
“Unity” was the buzzword this week as leaders sought to demonstrate they remained aligned as the war in Ukraine entered its fifth month. And despite fears of fracture, NATO leaders left Madrid with a renewed sense of purpose after years of wavering on how to approach Russia.
New York Democratic governor signs law limiting concealed carry of firearms in wake of Supreme Court ruling
New York Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul on Friday signed into law a bill restricting the concealed carry of firearms in locations such as government buildings and schools after the US Supreme Court last week struck down the state’s century-old law that placed restrictions on carrying a concealed handgun outside the home.
Hochul, who called the legislature into an extraordinary session Thursday to address the issue, announced that she had swiftly signed the cabill after passage.
“I just signed a new law to keep New Yorkers safe – even in the face of a monumental setback from the Supreme Court,” she said in a tweet that thanked lawmakers for their “quick work and collaboration to pass these critical gun safety reforms.”
Biden calls for dropping filibuster rules to pass abortion rights into law
President Joe Biden said on Thursday that he would support making an exception to the filibuster – the 60-vote threshold in the Senate needed to pass most legislation – in order to codify abortion rights and the right to privacy through legislation passed by Congress.
However, despite Biden’s newly announced support for the filibuster carveout, his best bet in doing so would be next year – and only if Democrats gain at least two Senate seats and hold the House of Representatives
Abortion activists are wrong to criticize Biden. Here’s why.
Democrats never fail to amaze me with their ability to turn on allies. Too many are indulging in this habit in the wake of the Supreme Court’s reversal of abortion rights.
The complaints on the left center on two issues: The first is the filibuster in the Senate, which some argue President Biden should be opposing more aggressively. But Biden has no ability to change this political reality. If Democrats want to break the filibuster, they must elect more Democrats to the Senate.
The second has to do with whether the administration can use federal lands or public facilities in states where abortion is illegal to provide the services. Some Democrats are frustrated that the White House hasn’t embraced this.
But the idea is not as easy as it sounds. Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement last week that “federal agencies may continue to provide reproductive health services to the extent authorized by federal law,” but that only pertains to government doctors (e.g., military doctors) and only to the extent permitted under the Hyde Amendment, which bars federal funding of abortions except in cases of rape, incest or that threaten the life of the mother. This does not allow treatment for the public at large or allow such doctors to perform abortions beyond the Hyde Amendment. Even if a federal government doctor on a federal property were to provide abortion services covered by the Hyde Amendment, the state might still try to go after the doctor’s medical license. (This would then raise an interesting Supremacy Clause, the outcome of which would be uncertain.)
Rather than set up women and doctors for possible prosecution, the administration can take more feasible measures — and it already is.
First, the administration is trying to guarantee access to medication abortions, which make up more than half of all abortions.
Second, the Justice Department is seeking to protect the right of women to travel to other states to seek abortions.
There are battles up and down the ballot that can affect the issue: from district attorneys and sheriffs to state lawmakers and governors to the House and Senate. If Democrats succeed, they can codify Roe v. Wade and other privacy rights into law and even reform the Supreme Court, as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is attempting to do.
In fact, Democrats are numerically close. If Democrats believe (as I do) that this is a motivating issue for millions of Americans, they should run on a “women’s lives are on the ballot” message. Use that momentum to hold the House and add a couple Democratic senators in the midterms.
Biden administration proposes canceling student debt of 200,000 borrowers who say they were scammed
The Biden administration has agreed to cancel billions of dollars in student debt for about 200,000 borrowers who say their for-profit colleges scammed them.
In a proposed settlement agreement filed Wednesday in federal court, the Education Department said it would fully discharge the debt of former students of 50 specific institutions whose applications for relief under a federal program were improperly rejected or have been languishing for years.
A judge must sign off on the agreement. A hearing is scheduled for July 28.
The Former Guy is Currently in Trouble
The Sleeper ‘Wire Fraud’ Scheme That Could Nail Trumpworld
The Trump campaign sent a fundraising email claiming that “President Trump will easily WIN the Presidency of the United States with only legal votes cast.” The solicitation called on supporters to donate any dollar amount and join something called the “Election Defense Task Force.” The campaign, it said, was “counting on members to help [Trump] fight back and secure FOUR MORE YEARS.”
While the Jan. 6 hearings have delivered explosive testimony and evidence suggesting that a number of former administration officials may face criminal liability related to the attack on the Capitol—possibly all the way up to Trump—there’s another potential criminal liability that has largely been lost in the news.
That would be the sprawling wire fraud conspiracy which the Jan. 6 special select committee alleged in its second hearing, on June 13, a scheme which legal experts say contains the ingredients for possible federal charges against officials with the campaign and the Republican National Committee—as well as Trump himself.
The fundamentals of that case may have been lost under the hearing’s success—the instantly viral revelation that Trump had raised $250 million on the Big Lie, much of it for a legal fund that didn’t exist.
But the case they laid out that day is as simple as it is compelling:
- Campaign officials and lawyers eagerly testified that they had told Trump they didn’t believe the claims of fraud
- The campaign team then continued to blast out hundreds of emails raising money off claims that officials, by their own admission, knew to be false
On top of that, many of those emails told supporters that their money would go to a legal fund that didn’t exist.
Cassidy Hutchinson testimony set audience record for a daytime Jan. 6 hearing
More than 13 million Americans tuned in to watch bombshell testimony from a former White House aide this week, making the Jan. 6 committee's latest hearing its second-most-viewed thus far.
The Tuesday afternoon hearing, which the committee announced just a day ahead of time, featured 25-year-old Cassidy Hutchinson, who served as an aide to former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows. Her dramatic testimony attracted 13,231,000 viewers across all major networks, including ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN and MSNBC, according to numbers from Nielsen, a ratings firm. This total topped the previous four hearings, which won audiences of about 10 million to 11 million people. The first Jan. 6 hearing, on June 9, drew about 20 million viewers, but it aired in prime time.
Put a Fork in Donald Trump—the Ex-President Is Done
Mark it on your calendars. This was the week the meteoric political career of Donald Trump did what meteors often do and collided with planet Earth, leaving a large, ugly mark on the landscape.
The fact that Trump may soon announce his candidacy for the presidency in the days ahead is itself more of a sign of his political collapse than it is of any strength he may have. The first time he ran for president, he did it because he thought it would boost his brand. This time he is likely to do it because he thinks it may make him more difficult to prosecute. And because he can use it to mount one last big attempt to fleece his supporters.
The testimony of Hutchinson, poised and courageous as she was, was damning for both Trump and for his former White House colleagues
Even before the blockbuster testimony of Hutchinson, Trump was starting to suffer politically. One New Hampshire poll showed Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in a dead heat with Trump among GOP voters.
Further, the impact of the decisions of the Supreme Court majority that was engineered by Trump with the aid of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and a large false testimony about Roe v. Wade from the justices Trump added as well as the Jan. 6 committee also had considerable political ramifications. Democrats showed substantial recent gains in generic ballots. So thanks to both the former president and his handiwork on the high court, Republicans look more vulnerable, and to the degree to which he is seen as no longer having the magic touch of helping the party, that could be the final nail in the coffin for Trump.
Garland will have to prosecute Trump
After today’s explosive testimony by Cassidy Hutchinson — who served as chief assistant to Mark Meadows and was literally and figuratively in the middle of Trump’s White House — I don’t see how Attorney General Merrick Garland can avoid prosecuting Trump, as well as Mark Meadows and Rudy Giuliani.
Other Good News
Rising retail inventories point to discounts ahead
After two-plus years of on-again, off-again supply chain snarls, American warehouses and store shelves are filling up with stuff — perhaps too much.
The big picture: Fresh government numbers out Tuesday showed wholesale and retail stockpiles continue to mount, even as the ferocious consumer appetite for stuff — toys, clothes, furniture, packaged goods — that emerged as a feature of the pandemic economy may be ebbing.
- But if you're a shopper: score. Maybe that massive flat-screen you want is on sale. (Also, if you're Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell, whose job is to pull inflation down to earth, it's good to get word that some prices are going to be discounted.)
- In other words, something that is kind of bad for the stock market is actually kind of good for the economy.
The bottom line: But for now, the surge in inventories, just as demand seems to be slowing down, is exactly what the U.S. economy needs to get a break from the inflation that's driving everybody crazy. And, you know, keep your eyes peeled for sales.
Recent attacks on pro-Russian officials in southern Ukraine indicate signs of growing resistance movement
US officials say a trio of assassination attempts targeting pro-Russian officials over the past two weeks suggests a burgeoning resistance movement against pro-Russian authorities occupying parts of southern Ukraine.
While it is just a few incidents isolated to the town of Kherson so far, US officials say the resistance could grow into a wider counterinsurgency that would pose a significant challenge to Russia’s ability to control newly captured territory across Ukraine.
The Kremlin “faces rising partisan activity in southern Ukraine,” Avril Haines, the director of national intelligence, said during a conference in Washington, DC, on Wednesday.
The US believes that Russia does not have enough forces in Kherson to effectively occupy and control the region, one US official said, especially after pulling forces from the area for the fight to the east in Donbas. Another US official told CNN that move may have provided Ukrainian partisans with a window in which to attack locally installed Russian officials.
Ukraine has also conducted limited counterattacks near Kherson, further straining Russian forces.
Ketanji Brown Jackson Becomes First Black Female Supreme Court Justice
Ketanji Brown Jackson took the judicial oath just after noon on Thursday, becoming the first Black woman to serve on the Supreme Court.
After her confirmation, Justice Jackson admitted she was daunted by the idea of being a role model to so many, but said she was ready for the task. Paraphrasing from Maya Angelou’s poem “Still I Rise,” she said: “I do so now while bringing the gifts my ancestors gave. I am the dream and the hope of the slave.”
Clarity for fall: We're getting an Omicron booster
A critical meeting took place yesterday at the FDA. The VRBPAC (external scientific committee to the FDA) discussed one central question: What is our vaccination plan for fall? There were a number of presentations from external agencies (CDC, WHO, disease modelers) and vaccine manufacturers. Here are the meeting presentations and recording. Ultimately, the committee voted to recommend an Omicron-specific booster for fall.
Before the Lighter Side, I need to elevate this amazing comment:
Since SCOTUS agreed to hear Moore v. Harper (the "independent state legislature theory" case that could radically upend democracy as we know it), I have felt extremely worried. Yet, I have tried very much to reassure myself that the worst won't happen, and this article explains why: https://electionlawblog.org/?p=129811
So does this passage from https://www.justsecurity.org/81990/the-independent-state-legislature-theory-should-horrify-supreme-courts-originalists/:
"It is worth a quick pause, however, to clarify what the independent state legislature theory is not. Through the January 6th Committee hearings, we are learning more about Trump’s effort in 2020 to have state legislatures overturn the will of their voters and appoint their own preferred slate of electors. Although the theory underpinning that effort claimed that state legislators had a gobsmacking amount of power, the independent state legislature theory – even in its most maximalist form – would not give state legislatures the right to veto their voters’ choices. That is because, under the ISL theory in all of its forms, state legislatures must still comply with federal law, including the many federal and constitutional provisions that set the framework for federal elections, guarantee voting rights, and prohibit arbitrariness and discrimination in the counting of ballots."
I've had enough doom and gloom. Seriously.
On The Lighter Side
Finally, with all the crazy politics and a stubborn pandemic dragging on, it’s easy to be pessimistic about America this Fourth of July. But this Tiny Desk performance — happily back in our NPR Music office — will help turn dark skies to blue and remind us of the best and brightest version of our country.
This video marks the world premiere performance of excerpts of Washington Women, uplifting songs built on speeches and writings by amazing women — First Ladies, Secretaries of State, Senators and Supreme Court Justices — who had strong visions of what America should be.
Thanks to John in Denver for sharing this!!!
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I am so lucky and so proud to be in this with all of you ✊🏼✊🏾✊🏽🧡💚💛💜✊🏾✊🏽✊🏻